From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 94 19:30:34 PDT
To: mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)
Subject: Re: Andy Grove on Clipper
In-Reply-To: <199406182001.NAA06781@netcom13.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199406200230.TAA09568@netcom5.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I agree with what Mike Duvos says here:

(other points I also agree with elided)

> I don't think we have very much time left to save our precious
> encryption rights from Big Brother.  Revoking rights is like frog
> boiling.  As long as it is done slowly enough, it goes relatively
> unnoticed.

That's right. And the essay I just posted on "Corporations and
Encryption" is apropos. If, for example, Cypherpunks go along with
(or, worse, _advocate_) laws regulating crypto use in corporations,
then this is part of turning up the temperature on the frog.

> Remember when civil forfeiture started?  First only profits from
> illegal activities were seized.  They quickly moved to seizing
> all of a suspects assets.  Now cops can stop you on the road,
> empty your pockets, and take your money using only the
> justification that possession of more than a certain amount is
> evidence of wrongdoing.

It's worth noting again for any newcomers in the last half year or so
that Whit Diffie said at a Cypherpunks meeting that he think _civil
forfeiture_ will be used to suppress noncomplying crypto: corporations
will be told that only certain types of crypto are allowable, and
noncomplying crypto will be grounds for forfeiture of corporate assets.

...
> attempt to thwart the federal agenda.  Attacks on Denning's
> character, the Clipper algorithm, and the LEAF field, while
> interesting, do nothing to help our cause.  What will we do when
> the government presents us with an escrowed, publicly reviewed,
> unbreakable strong encryption algorithm which is mandatory?  We
> need to concentrate on the basic issues here and state them
> clearly many times in language the public can understand.

I agree...the focus on the "weaknesses" of EES, rather than the deeply
flawed ethical, Constitutional, and practical issues, is mistaken. But
if folks want to put effort into this, fine. I don't. They can.

> The public slap in the face our agenda received the other day on
> the crypto export issue should be proof enough that our enemies
> will accept nothing less than the total surrender of our right to
> personal privacy.  It's time to stop being nice.  When you go after 
> the King, you shoot to kill.

I'm sure there are those scanning this list who view such metaphorical
comments more literally, as a death threat against Bill Clinton and
his minions. They have no appreciation of irony.

Pushing strong crypto to the "tipping point," the point of no return,
is within our grasp.

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."